3 Terrorists Killed While Trying to Infiltrate Israel by Sea off Nahariya Beach

June 17, 1980

TEL AVIV (Jun. 16)

Three terrorists attempting to infiltrate Israel by sea were killed in an exchange of fire with an Israeli Navy patrol boat early this morning, off the beach at Nahariya. An Israeli sailor was slightly wounded.

According to an official announcement today the terrorists entered Israeli territorial waters from Lebanon in a motorized rubber dinghy and headed for Nahariya. They were detected by an early warning system ashore and a Navy patrol boat of the Dabour type was dispatched to intercept them. A brief battle ensued during which the terrorists fired bazooka shells until their dinghy sustained a direct hit, capsized and burned.

The bodies of the three terrorists were washed ashore near Nahariya. Security forces combed the area for additional infiltrators but nothing was found to indicate that any had landed. Nahariya was the target of a sea-borne terrorist attack 14 months ago in which three Israeli civilians and one policeman were killed.